


Blue Collar Man

by ClassicallyYours



Series: Styx [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-22 21:01:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8300876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClassicallyYours/pseuds/ClassicallyYours
Summary: It's been two months since the events of Renegade. Eren was settling in to his new routine quite nicely until who other than Levi shows up out of nowhere to accompany him on more death-defying escapades that no one in their right mind would want to be a part of... Except for Eren, that is.The sequel to Renegade.





	1. Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeeyyyy, it's Classic, backatitagain with the Ereri.
> 
> So it's been 3 years since I started Renegade, no biggie, no biggie.
> 
> At lot has happened. I am now a full time teacher! Also, I live on my own and pay my own bills! Who says you can't write fanfic and have an enriching and fulfilling life?
> 
> So I wanted to thank the fans who actually drew me back to AO3. I kept getting e-mails about kudos and comments long after Renegade, which was meant to be the first part of a three part series, had been published and I finally said, "you know what? It's time." So here I am picking up the reins again, and I hope many of you who enjoyed Renegade will return to join me.
> 
> I expect this next segment to be longer than the first, with more action, more snark, and more canoodling *that's a teacher codeword for SEX* than the first one. I hope you'll enjoy it! I think I will.
> 
> With that being said, welcome to the second part of the Styx trio, Blue Collar Man!

_Sup fuckface, I’ve got a job for you._

Eren’s eyes skipped across the (still cracked) screen of his iPhone. He was out to lunch with Mikasa when he felt the familiar vibration in his pocket and pulled his phone out without missing a beat. It had been at least a week and a half since he had heard from Levi, and when that happened he always got extremely apprehensive about the other’s state of affairs.

Mikasa stopped giggling at whatever snarky comment Eren had been making before. She cocked her head politely. “What is it?”

“I…” Eren began. But frankly, he didn’t even know what it was. “Can you give me five minutes?”

“ _Oh_ ,” Mikasa said knowingly, pushing the remnants of her meal forward on the table. “It’s your boyfriend, isn’t it? Go ahead, make the call. Lord knows I’ve had enough time to you myself. It’s only fair that I should share.”

Eren immediately flushed and thought to say something, but his will to call Levi was too strong, so he just stood up without pushing his chair back and nearly tripped over the leg of it. He cursed as he half skipped his way out of the restaurant.

His fingers were working slower than his mind wanted them to as he brought up his contact list and frantically pushed at Levi’s name for what seemed like minutes. The iPhone finally dialed it in and Eren nearly dropped the thing as he tried to bring it up to his ear. It rang once… Twice… And didn’t get a chance to ring a third time when an empty “hello?” rang through the line.

“I’ve been worried fucking sick about you, man,” Eren spat out, “It’s been fucking weeks since I’ve heard from you and here I am thinking you’re dead and I’ll never even get to attend the funeral because it’ll be some top secret CIA bullshit ordeal that they never even put in the obituaries.”

Eren could hear Levi suck in his breath on the other side. “I’ve been doing just fine, darling, thanks for asking. How have you been? Were you able to see the doctor about the stick that’s been stuck up your ass yet? No? What a shame.”

“I’m serious, Levi,” Eren huffed. “I can’t do this with you.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you started dating a hitman.”

There was no arguing with him. Eren knew that all roads with Levi led to his defeat. He swallowed his pride and stood up a bit straighter. “Well, you said you have a job for me. What is it?”

“I finally lit the fire under Erwin’s ass. He wants to recruit you. As a trainee. You’ll be shadowing me, of course.”

Eren’s breath caught in his throat. He hadn’t expected… This. Not so soon, at least.

 

It had been two months since he left Levi at the airport in Yuma that sweltering day. Now back home in Vermont, he had gotten the chance to reconnect with his sister before she was off to another semester at college… And in the meantime, she (and Levi, for his part) had managed to convince him that another half-planned hitchhiking road trip across the U.S.A. was _not_ such a great idea, and he should instead be focusing on getting a part time job and maybe even taking some classes online. Eren obliged, but only because he felt nothing could top his latest escapades. So he took a part-time job at an ice cream shop and tried to get in as much time with Mikasa as he could while he texted and called Levi between jobs.

Sometimes he wouldn’t hear back from him for days. When this last stint turned into a full week… Then Eren began to worry. He hadn’t actually eaten anything as of late up until Mikasa had forced him to go out on a sibling date with her and offered to pick up the tab.

 

But that was neither here nor there, now. Now, Levi was calling him back about the proposition he had made to him those couple of months ago. Now this was happening for real.

“I-I don’t know,” Eren stammered. “I feel like I just got back and I’m settling in, I don’t know if—“

 “Great. I’ve already booked you a plane to Miami. It leaves tomorrow at four in the morning.”

Eren felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. “Miami?! Tomorrow…? Levi, this is insane, I can’t pack up and leave on such short notice—“

“Coneheads has already been contacted and made aware of your great aunt’s terminal illness that you, as her only able-bodied great nephew, have so graciously offered to help her see through until the bitter end or at least for the foreseeable future.”

“You called my job?!” Eren was now actually seething. “What else have you been doing behind my back?”

“Well, I didn’t want to say anything, but it was extremely important that you were rested and well fed before your trip tomorrow.”

It took Eren a few moments to process that statement, but when he finally did, he whipped his head around faster than his neck could handle. Staring back at him with the smuggest little smile on her face was none other than Mikasa, hands folded delicately under her chin as she rested her elbows on the table, flashing him a look that said, _“guilty as charged.”_

Eren took a deep breath and sighed. He rolled all of this over in his head; the suddenness of it all, the treachery on Levi and Mikasa’s parts, the easy routine he had just been getting the hang of… And how badly he wanted to see Levi again. How much he wanted to be sitting next to him in the dusty but immaculately well-kept Camaro, blazing through the desert at eighty five, listening to those old rock legends fade in and out on the stereo as the intoxicating smell of leather polish and Levi’s body wash mixed together and flooded his senses and made him want to lean over and just—

It was settled. It had been settled before Eren was even aware of it. He was going to go through with this, and, God help him, he actually wanted to.

Another tense sigh slipped through his lips as he pressed his fingers to the sides of the bridge of his nose. “Godfuckingdamnit… I’ll see you tomorrow, you prick.”

“Love you t—“ Eren ended the call before he fell any further into the intense amount of self-loathing he was feeling right now.

He walked back into the restaurant, defeated, but high as hell on his own adrenaline.

Mikasa just kept smiling. “Your boyfriend’s a real nice guy. Even picked up the tab for us today.”

“Just don’t say anything,” her brother muttered as he plucked his jacket off of the back of his chair and shrugged it on. “Just don’t say anything else from now until tomorrow at four o’clock.”

Mikasa snorted out a laugh before standing up herself and following Eren out of the restaurant. She knew he’d forgive her, eventually.


	2. Unfortunate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I really do realize just how cheesy this series is and I try to capitalize on that and tear down some of my own tropes. That's 50% of what this chapter is. The other 50% is snark.
> 
> Lots of background and filling in the gaps, very little fluff. We're getting there, folks, just bear with me.
> 
> Watch out for stray typos, I may not have proofread this one so well... :*

It was three o’clock in the fucking morning when Mikasa slammed opened his bedroom door and practically screeched at Eren that they were going to be late. Late for what? He had wondered. And then he remembered.

Fucking Levi.

So they scrambled into the car with Eren’s hastily packed carry-on luggage and sped off to the airport like nobody’s business. Teary-eyed goodbyes were exchanged and Mikasa nearly broke both of Eren’s arms just by hugging him, but by 3:55 he was scurrying onto the jet that would take him to JFK and then to Miami.

Eren spent most of his time between the two flights staring out of the window and listening to the music on his phone on shuffle. His phone vibrated more than a few times, but Eren was so insanely pissed that he couldn’t bring himself to look at the texts he had received. Finally, with just an hour until he was going to touch down in Miami, he took a peek.

 _Levi [3:31]: Hope everything goes well this morning. Text me when you get on the plane._  
_Levi [4:32]: It’s 4:30. Are you on ok? Let me know._  
_Levi [5:04]: Aahh, the silent treatment. Ok. I can handle this._  
_Levi [6:32]: Just wanted to let you know I’ll be at the airport to pick you up. Look for the suave-ass motherfucker with the undercut. Just don’t look too high._  
_Levi [6:40]: No reply? Not even for a self-depreciating joke? Well shit._  
_Levi [7:05]: Listen brat if I wasted $1,052 to cart your ungrateful ass all the way down here and you haven’t even gotten on the plane yet I swear to God._  
_Levi [8:12]: I’ll have doughtnuts. Freshly baked. I know a local place._  
_Levi [8:37]: Baby come back~ You can blame it all on me~_  
_Levi: [9:51]: fine just FINE. See you soon, jackass._

Eren smiled to himself. It gave him a small amount of pleasure to inconvenience Levi at the present moment. He knew he would get over himself, and Levi would too, but that wasn’t happening right this instant. It would take a lot more than doughnuts to earn his forgiveness. Levi had called to quit his job for him, for fuck’s sake.

But still, Eren felt himself bristle with intense anticipation at the thought of seeing him again. It was enough to make his legs a little wobbly as he strolled through the checkpoint to the waiting area, suitcase rolling smoothly behind him and an earbud in one ear. Feeling a little less resentful at the end of the flight, he had made a playlist for Levi to listen to… Some other time, when Eren didn’t hate his guts.

He glanced up from his phone and was taken aback when he made eye contact from across the room with none other than his short, dark-haired companion from two months ago.

Not much had changed about him. He was still lean and muscular, one hand partially hanging out of his jean pocket nonchalantly and the other holding up a box of doughnuts, gazing at Eren with a mixture of what anyone else would mistake for displeasure and boredom. But Eren, despite having only spent four days in his physical presence, knew exactly what was going on in his mind. He was thinking the same thing that Eren was.

_Oh shit of fuck oh piss I can’t fuckin’ do this just look at him oh my God—_

Or something like that.

It seemed as if each step he took to get closer to him was longer than the last, until he was actually right up in front of him and then it felt like no time had passed between when he had boarded the first plane that morning and now. He tried his best to remain calm and collected.

“Su-up?” he mustered, but his voice caught in his throat and broke a little on the end. _Shitfuckpiss_ , he cursed internally.

Levi looked at him and then at the doughnuts. “I got us breakfast but then, you know, you decided to totally ignore me, so I shared it with a hobo I found outside of the bus station instead. His name was Carl, real nice guy if you ever get to meet him.”

Eren’s façade broke just like that as he caught himself laughing at the shitty attempt at a joke. Levi cracked the bare ghost of a smile as he slung his free arm around Eren and pulled him in for a quick kiss on the cheek. Eren stopped chuckling and kissed him back. Where had this sudden tenderness come from? It was as if nothing had changed since they last saw each other.

“Car’s waiting in the parking lot,” Levi said, nodding his head towards the door. “That’s all you brought?”

“Yeah,” Eren shrugged, kicking his suitcase lightly. “Don’t own much.”

“Figures a good-for-nothing ragamuffin like you would travel light,” Levi flicked the tip of Eren’s nose with a slender finger. “Oh and hey, welcome to Miami.”

The air outside was stuffy and humid, not like the dry heat that had followed the pair everywhere in Yuma. Eren wasn’t used to it and moved a little slower than Levi did through the parking complex over to where Levi’s car was. It wasn’t the Camaro, which Eren had found out was a rental, but a very new, impeccably clean Kia Soul. Eren nearly fell into the seat, not realizing how tired he was, and sighed as Levi turned the car on and a stream of cool air blasted in his face.

“Eat up,” he said, tossing the doughnut box onto Eren’s lap. He obliged, eating not one, not two, but three strawberry jelly filled pastries with pink icing and sprinkles on top. He licked his fingers clean at the end and sat the box in the back seat.

“So,” Eren said, stretching out in the seat. “When do I get to start this job?”

“We’re actually on our way there now,” Levi replied, “Everything moved much more quickly after my last job and Erwin realized we needed more hands on deck… I’ll explain everything when we get to the office, but for now, just know this is a preliminary screening and you don’t have much to worry about.”

Eren nodded and for the first time since they had left the airport turned to get a good look at Levi. He was so cool and collected in this moment, with one hand on the wheel and the other resting casually on the counsel. He stared forward at the road from behind his aviators, face not betraying one hint of emotion, whatever he might have been feeling just now.

Without thinking about it, Eren reached out and wrapped a hand around his. Levi’s eyes jutted down briefly before he gave him a quick squeeze and then let his hand rest comfortably in Eren’s. The jetlagged boy smiled, before turning his head to watch the bustling metropolis unfold before him.

He had been in many cities like Miami, so the busy highway and tall buildings set right upon the ocean were no big surprise to him. It almost felt familiar somehow, like he had passed through town in another life, but he knew that was impossible. His last hitchhiking tour had only taken him across the middle of the continental United States, never flagging very far north or south in his journeys. He had been to Florida once, as a small child, but never so far south. Still, he couldn’t help but feel like he had been there before…

“When we get there you’ll have to do a character profile and background check on your own,” Levi explained. “But after that gets taken care of I’ll escort you through the premises and you’ll get to meet my boss, Erwin. After that he wants to give us a quick debrief on something and that’ll be that. We can head back to my place afterwards.”

“Now, is this another rental place?”

“No,” Levi smirked. “Miami is home. Real home.”

Eren felt his heart flutter. For some stupid reason, the idea of going home with Levi made him giddy. Living together in Yuma was great, sure, but neither of them had any real attachment to the place. Here felt more… Sacred. More real.

They were finally together again.

And before he could drift into thoughts of domestic bliss, there they were, pulling into the lot of what looked like an unassuming enough office building. Three stories in height, it wasn’t much to look at compared to some of the other skyscrapers Eren saw on their way there.

The pair walked in and was greeted by a warm receptionist at the front desk. Levi showed her a badge, but it was evident from their banter she knew exactly who he was and the credentials were just a formality. Eren followed him back behind her through a glass door, down a hallway, and into what appear to be a meeting room at first. Then he opened what Eren thought was a closet door, but in actuality turned out to be a hidden entrance to an elevator.

“Does this lead to the underground lair?” Eren asked excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to see an underground lair.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Levi said as he swiped a keycard into the pad next to the doors. The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside, with Levi making sure to close the closet door behind them.

Sure enough, they were going down… And down, and down. Until finally after what had felt like the longest elevator ride of his life, the machinery dinged and the doors opened up.

Eren expected some kind of _Men in Black_ testing facility, all chrome-plated and futuristic. But what greeted them instead was definitely much more reminiscent of what one would expect to find at the Pentagon or some other militaristic organization. A bunch of black suits sat behind a second counter, and this time the check-in process was a lot more formal. Levi was full body scanned and patted down, as was Eren, before they moved on to the next check point.

“Please don’t tell me we’re getting on a plane again. This feels like going through the T.S.A.,” Eren groaned. Levi just sniggered at that.

“No, no, not that, but I do have to leave you here,” he said, pointing down the hallway that was in front of them. “You’re going to want to go in the second door on the left. I’ll meet you on the other side. Just be honest and… Well, it’s all pomp and circumstance. You’ll do fine, just don’t be a baby about it.”

Don’t be a baby about it…? But before Eren could ask about what, Levi was pushing him through the door and shutting it behind him. And there he was, alone in a white, sterile room, with nothing but a white desk with a chair on either side in front of him and a lone florescent light that seemed to be blinking at an irritable, impossible to actually capture pace.

A door that Eren hadn’t realized existed opened on the other side and a nice-looking woman in a skirt suit came in with a briefcase. She grinned at Eren as she walked over to the desk.

“Eren Jaeger, I presume? So nice to finally meet you! Hange Zoe, I’m sure Levi’s told you all about me.”

“Actually,” Eren didn’t want to burst her bubble, but he had to tell the truth, “He hasn’t mentioned you to me ma’am. Ever.”

Hange’s smiled was unfaltering. “Well, that can’t be helped now, can it? Never you mind, that’s no fault of your own. But rest assured he’ll be getting a beating later!” With that she let out a hearty laugh, which Eren wasn’t quite sure if he should laugh along with or just stay silent at. He chose the latter. “Come!” She said, “Have a seat right here across from me.”

Eren did as he was asked and scooted forward uncomfortably. Something about Hange was extremely off putting if not downright creepy.

“So,” she began, opening the brief case and taking out some papers, “We’re going to need you to fill out some basic identifications and personal history documents, as well as provide us with any recent medical records or run-ins with the law… Oh, and could I see your hand real quick?”

“My hand?” Eren said dumbly, extending it across the table, “Well sure, I g—SHIT.”

Hange withdrew the sterilized prick and took out a small vial to capture the blood from Eren’s finger. He wasn’t sure when she had put gloves on and why he hadn’t noticed, but now all of the sudden she was swabbing him and bandaging him like nothing had happened and it wasn’t her fault. “It’s just easier to get the sample if you’re caught unawares. Oh, I do have your consent, right?”

Eren was already feeling woozy, and he knew it wasn’t just from the prick. Reluctantly, he spent the next thirty minutes filling out the forms and cradling his wounded finger in his lap. And to think he had gotten up at three in the morning for all of this.

After and extremely rushed debrief from Hange, none of which he really caught, Eren was shuffled out the door she had originally come in and into the next room where Levi was waiting. He slumped down in a chair next to him, without the other man even looking up from his phone to say something to him.

“Can we go home now?” Eren groaned.

“Not yet,” Levi replied, “We have one more pit stop.”

The door opened again and this time Hange stepped out with the reassembled brief case in tow. She nodded at Levi. “I’ll let him know you’re ready.” Levi just nodded back.

Not a minute later she was back, smiling as radiantly as ever. “Come on back, folks, the show’s about to start.”

Levi got up first and offered a hand to Eren. He clasped it and dragged himself up, slouching slightly as the trio padded off down another hallway and through a frosted glass door into one of the more impressive looking rooms that Eren had seen in the complex thus far.

A tall, broad-shouldered blond was sitting in a professional looking arm chair that was facing three others. He smiled at them as he said, “Ah, Eren Jaeger. A pleasure to meet you. Have a seat. I realize you’ve been up quite a while now, so I won’t keep you for very long.”

“Make it snappy, Erwin,” Levi huffed as he sat down and crossed his legs. “We’ve got to put the baby down for a nap pretty soon.”

Eren assumed he was talking about him but was too tired to get offended. Erwin just chuckled lightly and leaned forward in his chair. “Eren, Levi has filled me in all about you previous… Exploits. And from what he’s told me it seems you would be an extremely capable and adaptable new addition to our team. This is highly unorthodox for us to take on such a fresh, new recruit without any previous experience or training, but you came recommended so highly.”

Levi clicked his teeth and made a finger gun at Eren. Had he really shown all that just from dodging a couple of bullets and stabbing a guy? Probably not. It was more likely Levi just wanted an excuse to cart his ass down here. But he didn’t voice that opinion out loud.

“Here at Survey Inc. we deal with targets deemed highly dangerous but still disposable, as decided by the U.S. government. It is an undercover operation sourced out to an independent contractor that is easily able to be distanced from the government, and so we are able to perform some of the more unscrupulous tasks that branches like the C.I.A. and F.B.I. cannot. And that leads us to where we are now.

“Two months ago you assisted Levi in undermining a local drug cartel based out of Yuma, Arizona that was servicing a large portion of the southwest. As we have discovered, this one ring was part of a much larger affair with several different branches. Hange has led our intelligence team in tracking down the next organizational head, which is based out of a small town near Cancun, Mexico. We believe sitting right underneath a major tourist destination allows them to avoid some of the detection drug cartels operating just south of the border normally face.”

Eren nodded. Comprehension had never been his strong suit, in school or in life. He turned to Levi and gave him a look reminiscent of a kicked puppy.

Levi just sighed. “Kill thugs, get money,” he reminded him. Then turning to Erwin, “When do we leave?”

“In twenty-one hours.”

Eren didn’t mean to, but he let out an audible groan. He thought he was done with planes and now he had to get back on one in less than a day.

“Great, is that all your royal highness?” Levi asked, folding his arms haughtily.

“One more thing,” Erwin said, looking directly at Eren. “The nature of this case and the fact that we have found a way to catch our lead completely unaware and unarmed is the only reason I feel comfortable sending you on this mission with Levi. That being said…” He then turned to Levi, a more cold and serious look flooding over his face, “If Eren comes into harm’s way at any point during this excursion, you will be held entirely responsible.”

Levi scoffed. “Are you fucking kidding me? This kid has a goddamn death wish. You think I got him into the last fiasco? No, his dumb ass dragged me into it.”

“Levi…”

“Fine! Fuck, I’ll drop him off at the daycare on my way out, happy?”

Erwin smiled. “I know you’ll take care of him, Levi. Alright, you’re both dismissed. Out of my office before I change my mind about all of this. Hange, you stay back. I want to go over the monthly reports with you.”

Eren shuffled behind Levi out of the room and back through the hallways, up the elevator, and out of the office. They had been seated in the Soul for about ten minutes on the way to Levi’s apartment when Eren suddenly startled and sat bolt upright, looking over at his now partner.

“Holy shit, this is for real isn’t it? Am I a hitman now?”

“In training,” Levi corrected.

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Eren ran a hand through his hair nervously. “I’ve never taken a fire arms course, I have no military training, no knowledge of martial arts or hand-to-hand combat…”

“Pity,” Levi said, still blasé.

“Why would you even suggest that I--… Unless. Oh my God.”

Levi did actually glance over at him now, nervousness slightly evident in his awkward stare.

“You just wanted to go to Cancun with me.”

“Wha-at?” Levi laughed, “Nooo. No. Why would I do that? This is a life threatening business, Eren. I would never put you in harm’s way just ‘cause… Pfft, no!”

“That didn’t stop you before!” Eren cried out, smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Admit it! You don’t actually think I have any skill. You just wanted a romantic getaway with me!”

“… I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Levi almost cracked up on the tail end of his statement, being forced to cover his mouth with the back of his hand to conceal an obvious smirk.

“Oh my God. _O-oh my God._ You are the fucking worst. You are literally just a trash human being. You lied to Erwin, didn’t you? About my credentials?”

Levi paused. “I may have… Exaggerated some things.”

“JESUS CHRIST, LEVI. What did you tell him?”

“I may have implied somewhere along the way that your assist in the last mission was more of a… Solo kill. Maybe I chalked up like, two to you. Ok, three. There we some explosions in my version, too. It’s no big deal.”

Eren thudded back in the passenger’s seat, hands over his face. “I can’t believe this. I can’t fucking believe this.”

“Hey, you should have thought of the dangers before you decided—“

“To date a hitman, I know,” Eren groaned. Then he began to laugh sadly. “I’m gonna die, aren’t I?”

“Eren, nooo,” Levi reassured him, but he could tell it was a half-assed consolation.

“That’s it, man, game over, man,” Eren continued. “You think you know a guy, you think you can trust him, and then he lies to his boss to get an all-expenses paid vacation for two to the Yucatan just so that you’ll suck his dick for him.”

There was a pause. Eren knew exactly what was coming next.

“So are you saying that you will or—“

“LEVI.”

“Ok, so look,” Levi said, taking a sharp turn into a parking lot of the apartment complex. “There’s a method to my madness, ok? Erwin’s been head of this operation for a while now and the fact is we’re a dying breed, Eren. We have no fresh blood in the ranks. There’s no one to pick up the reins, so to speak.” He found a spot and backed into it, shifting the car into park abruptly. Then he turned to Eren, hand raised and pointing at him, palm flat and decisive, “You show potential. Whereas others in your position in Yuma would have shit the bed and pussied out, you stood your fuckin’ ground and stabbed a motherfucker on the drop of a hat. _You have potential._ Was Erwin going to hear me out if I brought him a recommendation based on potential? Fuck no. So I lied, ok? And it has nothing to do with going to Cancun. You know how many swarthy beach boys I could pick up on my own there? But that’s beside the point. I know you, I can trust you, and I _believe in you_. Now get the fuck out of my car, all of this tenderness is making me sick.”

For once, Eren had nothing to say back. He got out of the car and followed Levi up to the apartment complex, wondering for at least the one hundred and seventy-eighth time that day what exactly he had signed up for when he chose to board that fucking plane.


End file.
